Meghan McCain, ‘The View’ peers blame ‘straight sexism’ for smaller U.S. Women’s soccer payday

The ladies of “The View” say “sexism” is to blame for a disparity between paydays between U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams.

Republican Meghan McCain joined her liberal colleagues at ABC this week in blaming “straight sexism” for a pay disparity that affects this year’s women’s World Cup champions — their record fourth victory.

“Go by capitalism,” Ms. McCain said Monday, Mediaite reported. “I can’t name one male player, and we can all name several female players at this point because they have all become stars. I think it’s straight sexism.”

“The ticket sales, supply, and demand,” added comedian Joy Behar. “You want to go, the ticket sales determine the amount of money you should be paid. It’s obviously sexism. What else could you say?”

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg also lamented that these female athletes receive “18 cents on the dollar” when compared to men.

The Federalist, however, countered such arguments on Monday by essentially calling them a form of economic illiteracy.

“Events like the World Cup and the Olympics come around every four years,” author John Glynn wrote for the conservative website. “The rest of the time, unlike many of the players on the men’s national time, many of whom play for elite clubs, the ladies are rarely in the limelight. The men are consistent cash cows, playing in front of huge crowds once, if not twice, a week.”

“Many of the people complaining about the pay gap are actually part of the problem,” he continued. “How many of these critics have actually attended a women’s professional soccer game? … One of the major factors that separate men’s sports and women’s is a not so little thing called revenue. To put it bluntly, female soccer players, just like female basketball players and female hockey players, are paid less because their respective sports make less. The total prize money for the Women’s World Cup in France this July was $30 million; the total prize money for the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be $440 million.”

Mediaite noted that both teams also have separate collective-bargaining agreements and pay structures.

“For example, players on the women’s team make a base salary and can earn performance-based bonuses, whereas players on the men’s team earn only bonuses,” the website wrote. “The Men’s World Cup generated $6.1 billion in revenue, while the 2015 Women’s World Cup generated $73 million.”